Today’s article on Syria in the NYTIMES by Jimmy Carter is as vacuous as the one published by Kissinger last week.
It is starting to become clear why the 1970s were such a fiasco in terms of foreign policy.
Carter on Syria
Opinions, art, debate
Clarissa's Blog 
So the last decade and a half has been an improvement???
Carter’s plan is the type of pipe-dream nonsense that typically comes out of “international think tanks” composed of “wise old men” (over-the-hill, long out-of-power political figures who couldn’t save the world when they were in power, but somehow think their advice can do so now).
Simple: just get a group of nations who have impossibly conflicting goals (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Russia, the US), have them come up with a plan that agrees on the ultimate aim of “peace” but disagrees on all the specifics of how to attain it, and refer the plan to the U.N. (!) for implementation.
Works every time. 🙂
LikeLike
Be kind, Clarissa. The poor man is old and suffers from advanced brain cancer. Kissinger doesn’t have the same excuses, but he also has a Nobel Peace Prize. :p
What would your solution be instead?
LikeLike
Kissinger is the same age and people say he’s been suffering from brain issues all his life.
I believe there will be no solution until people understand that Putin doesn’t give a toss about Assad. His involvement in Syria is not about Assad, ISIS, or anything located in that region. His actions in Syria cannot be analyzed aside from everything else he’s been doing.
LikeLike
Just about everybody in the world (except Obama and Kerry, who have GOT to be clinically delusional about foreign affairs) understands that, but no country on earth except for the U.S. has the power to counter Putin.
LikeLike
I think you have a very optimistic view of humanity. I’m seeing one article after another by people who don’t see any connection between Putin’s invasions of Ukraine and of Syria. Or maybe they are pretending to be this stupid, who knows.
I’m even beginning to harbor uncharacteristic feelings of pity towards Putin who explained what he is doing many times in very direct terms, but he is still not being heard.
LikeLike
I think that a lot of writers for various partisan political magazines/websites simply know which viewpoint they are expected to promote, and do so as part of their job — realizing that it doesn’t really matter what they write, because nobody important is taking their advice.
My worldview is optimistic in this sense: I’ve lived long enough to see that the world keeps going and going and GOING and GOING, and never quite falls into whatever imminent Apocalypse the doomsayers are always screaming about.
LikeLike
“I’ve lived long enough to see that the world keeps going and going and GOING and GOING, and never quite falls into whatever imminent Apocalypse the doomsayers are always screaming about.”
LikeLike
What was Carter’s excuse between 1976-1980, when he was the then-worst President in U.S. history? (Now, thanks to Obama — who also has a Nobel Peace Prize — Carter has been demoted to SECOND worst-ever President, so naturally he has to scurry around in an attempt to restore his reputation.
LikeLike